Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Fantasy Baseball Week 5 - Preferred Pitching Matchups

The Philadelphia Phillies will travel to Cleveland on Tuesday to face the Indians. In just a 2 game series, the Phillies will be able to add an extra bat to their lineup, utilizing the DH position. It is possible that the Phillies give any of their infielders a day off from fielding slotting one of Jimmy Rollins, Michael Young, Chase Utley or Ryan Howard at DH while Laynce Nix or Kevin Frandsen fills in. Scratch that, the Phillies have activated Delmon Young and he will most likely get all of the DH ABs in Cleveland.
The second interleague series features the Colorado Rockies hosting the Tampa Bay Rays. Without that DH the Rays will have to rotate Sam Fuld, Shelley Duncan, Ryan Roberts and maybe even Matt Joyce for the 3 game set in Colorado. But Desmond Jennings, Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria should see some nice stats at the friendly confines of Coors Field!
The Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers host 7 home games this week.

The New York Yankees, Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays will host 6 home games.

The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals spend the entire week on the road while the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, and Tampa Bay Rays play two 3 game series on the road.

Straily is getting his second start of the season, after striking out 11 Astros back on April 5th. In the minors, he went 3-0 over 3 starts striking out 20 batters in 18.2 innings. Hold onto him because Brett Anderson might miss his second start of the week, making Straily a two start pitcher!

Edinson Volquez - San Diego Padres

@ Edwin Jackson - Chicago Cubs (Tues, April 30)

Volquez has looked much better in his last 2 starts, pitching 13 innings and allowing just 2 earned runs. The Cubs offense has not been great so this is another good matchup for Volquez and the Padres should score some runs off Jackson.

Trevor Bauer - Cleveland Indians

vs Cliff Lee - Philadelphia Phillies (Wed, May 1)

Obviosuly I do not think he can beat Lee, but there is limited available pitching on Wednesday and Bauer is a top prospect. Yeah he walked 7 guys in his only start back in the beginning of April, but that is more than he has walked in 3 starts in the minors. Plus he has 24 Ks in just 18 innings against AAA hitting. The Phillies have not been that great offensively so as long as he is not walking batter after batter, Bauer should be able to provide you with decent stats.

Travis Wood - Chicago Cubs

vs Eric Stults - San Diego Padres (Thurs, May 2)

Here is what Travis Wood does, pitches 6-7 innings and allows 2 earned runs, while striking out 4 or 5 batters. Thats pretty good for a streaming pitcher on a travel day!

Carlos Villanueva - Chicago Cubs

vs Mike Leake - Cincinnati Reds (Fri, May 3)

Very rarely will the Cubs have back to back pitchers on this list, but Villanueva has been great this season with an 0.82 WHIP and a 2.21 ERA over 5 starts. As long as he gets you a quality start, it was worth the stream!

Kevin Correia - Minnesota Twins

@ Scott Kazmir - Cleveland Indians (Sat, May 4)

Correia is a pitcher who rarely gets beat too bad. That combined with the disaster that is Scott Kazmir and the Twins should come away victorious and Correia will at least earn you a quality start.

Kevin Slowey - Miami Marlins

@ Roy Halladay - Philadelphia Phillies

Slowey has been very effective this season against some good competition, including a game against the Phillies. Slowey really can't hurt you and could really help help your team WHIP and ERA on the last day of your matchup.